Camille Saint-Saëns was one of the major Romantic composers
in nineteenth century France. Regarded as a pioneer in his early
years after the Great War and then in his eighties Saint-Saëns
was still writing in his familiar late-Romantic style and his
music had become regarded as anachronistic. Throughout his long
life of eighty-six years Saint-Saëns wrote in most genres, including
symphonies, concertante works, sacred and secular choral music,
a ballet Javotte and incidental music, chamber music,
numerous songs and pieces for piano and organ, and numerous
arrangements. Saint-Saëns much cherished his thirteen operas
all written during the period 1872-1911. Despite being prolific
the fame of Saint-Saëns rests largely on just a small number
of works most notably: the Symphony No. 3 Organ; the
Symphonic Poem: Danse macabre; Softly awakes my heart
and the Bacchanale from the opera Samson and Delilah;
the Introduction and Rondo capriccioso and Havanaise
for violin and orchestra, and The Swan from The Carnival
of the Animals. Although of high quality the majority of
his works are hardly known. A concert pianist himself a substantial
number of Saint-Saëns’s rarely heard solo piano scores are a
case in point. Even in his home country his piano scores soon
became lost among the piano works of his European predecessors
Liszt and Chopin and the impressionism of his successors Debussy,
Ravel and Satie.

This MDG release serves as a excellent showcase for the solo
piano scores. Presented here are three collections of six piano
works. For some reason they are not placed in chronological
order. The first is the Album pour Piano, op. 72. These
are pieces tailored for virtuoso display in the fashionable
Parisian salons and concert halls. The Album opens with
an urgent Prélude with passages of calm; sounding somewhat
Lisztian. A peaceful work tinged with melancholy the Carillon
adopts a more serious quality at its centre.The
rapid and darting Toccata has considerable appeal and
the Valse is another attractive piece that develops a
fervent core.Rocking and undemanding, the Chanson
Napolitaine evokes the motion of the gondola.The
concluding Final is a dazzling and exuberant showpiece.

The next two collections comprise Études (Studies).
These are spacious, polished and appealing in style and at times
strike the classical approach of Mendelssohn. The Six Études
pour le Piano, op. 52 commence with an upbeat and extrovert
Prélude. Titled Pour l'independance des doigts this
is melodic and encompasses a sighing and romantic mood. A brisk
and determined Prélude and Fugue in F minor is followed
by the tricky Etude de rythme so movingly gentle and
delicate with an almost pleading quality. The Prélude and
Fugue in A major is very fine being both melodic and dramatic,
The set culminates in the popular En forme de Valse,sweeping and scatty.

The closing set is the Six Études pour le Piano, op.
111. Opening the set is the short Tierces majeures et mineures
which is big-boned and extrovert. Reminding me on occasions
of Rimsky-Korsakov’s famous Flight of the Bumblebee is
the rapid Traits chromatiques followed by the Prélude
et Fugue notable for its broad and dramatic gestures. Saint-Saëns
was a great lover of the sound of bells and wrote several bell-inspired
scores. A repetitive piece Les Cloches de Las Palmas
contains prominent bell-like figures that could easily be ringing
out a warning to townsfolk. The attractive, penultimate and
scurrying Tierces majeures chromatiques is only brief.
To crown this collection comes the dramatic and boisterous Toccata
d'après le cinquième concerto a title that refers to the
finale of the Piano Concerto No. 5, op. 103 known
as ‘The Egyptian’.

Korean pianist Mi-Joo Lee provides excellent playing with a
beautiful tone drawn from her Steinway concert grand (model
D). There were only a couple of minor examples of poor technicality
otherwise the soloist was gloriously committed, fresh, confident
and perceptive. Virtually everything that Saint-Saëns wrote
is appealing and of high quality whilst not making any claims
for these splendid and interesting scores to be classed as masterworks.
They deserve a wider circulation.

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